418 THE TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS — TUBINARES. 



with outspread wings, or runs upon its surface with facility and ease. The light- 

 ness of its body is rendered even more buoyant by the action of its wings. Its note, 

 usually low and feeble, becomes louder and harsher during boisterous weather, and 

 at such times is more frequently repeated. 



Audubon was entirely mistaken in his supposition that this species breeds in the 

 Mud Islands off the coast of Nova Scotia. 



I have had frequent opportunities of observing it in the outer liarbor of Boston, 

 where it is generally present in abundance from the last week in July to the lirst 

 week in September. 



In the latter part of August, 1871, in company with Professor Baird, on the small 

 Government steamer " Moccasin," Avhen off the southern shore of Martha's Vineyard, 

 we saw a large number of these birds. They were readily attracted about our craft by 

 fragments of biscuit, scraps of meat, and almost any kind of food, and were evidently 

 possessed of very keen vision ; for while at first only an occasional bird was in sight, 

 as soon as we began to throw out food they came flocking in from all directions, until 

 we could count seventy or more of them. They hovered about the water, preparatory 

 to seizing their scraps of food, in a manner that reminded us at once of the action of 

 butterflies. The uplifted wings, the feet thrown forward as if patting the water, and 

 then rising from it, the bill inclined forward and downward — all this recalled the 

 movements of the butterfly, and seemed more like those of an insect than of a bird. 

 It rarely, and only for a moment, rested on the water. 



Dr. J. H. Kidder found this Petrel present about Kerguelen Island, and noted its 

 crepuscular habits when near the shore. This species became much more common 

 after its first appearance, December 8. He had previously met Avith it at sea east of 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and, December 14, saw it about by day feeding on the oily 

 matters floating away from the carcass of a sea-elephant. The birds frequented the 

 rocky parts of the hillsides, flitting about like Swallows, apparently in pursuit of 

 insects, though there seemed to be none flying on the island other than minute gnats. 

 Dr. Kidder did not succeed in finding any eggs, but was informed that Kev. Mr. Eaton, 

 of the English Expedition, found one on Thumb Mountain, some fifteen miles from 

 the American station ; there Avas only one on the nest, Avliich had been made under 

 a large rock not far from the beach. The egg, Avhieh Avas Avhite, was found Decem- 

 ber 8 ; and Dr. Kidder had no doubt that this bird nests habitually among and under 

 rocks, and at a considerable elevation above the sea. 



Genus CYMODROMA, Eidgway. 



Frcgdta, Bonap. Coiisp. II. 1856, 197 (type, Procdlaria tropica, Goulu ; not Frcgata, Bkiss. 1760). 



Char. Size small ; inner toe alxnit equal to or slightly longer than the middle, Avliich is 

 decidedly shorter than the outer ; claws very hroad and flat, somewhat <> shaped ; tarsus nearly 

 twice as long as the middle toe Avithout the claw (about two and a half times as long as the cul- 

 men) ; tail more than lialf as long as the wing, even, the feathers extremely broad, and truncated 

 at the tip ; plumage party-colored. 



Only one species of this very peculiar genus belongs to the North American fauna, and this on 

 account of its accidental occurrence on the coast of FJoiida. 



